U.S. patent application number 14/392222 was filed with the patent office on 2016-10-06 for connecting piece for connecting poles of two batteries or battery cells and production method for a connecting piece for connecting poles of two batteries or battery cells.
This patent application is currently assigned to KME Germany GmbH & Co. KG. The applicant listed for this patent is KME GERMANY GMBH & CO. KG. Invention is credited to MARC KOVERMANN, ALBERT RUMBACH.
Application Number | 20160293924 14/392222 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 51298492 |
Filed Date | 2016-10-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20160293924 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
KOVERMANN; MARC ; et
al. |
October 6, 2016 |
CONNECTING PIECE FOR CONNECTING POLES OF TWO BATTERIES OR BATTERY
CELLS AND PRODUCTION METHOD FOR A CONNECTING PIECE FOR CONNECTING
POLES OF TWO BATTERIES OR BATTERY CELLS
Abstract
A connecting piece includes a stamped metal sheet for
conductively connecting poles of two batteries or battery cells,
which connecting piece has a main body with a recess, wherein at
least one insert element is arranged in the inner region of at
least one recess. Either the insert elements have a groove on the
circumferential face thereof, said groove running at least in
regions of the circumference, or the main body has a groove on the
inner face of the at least one recess therein, said groove running
at least in regions of the circumference. The respectively
corresponding component has a projection which is generated by
material displacement when the two or one of the two components
are/is pressed and which engages in the groove in an interlocking
manner, so that the main body and each insert element are connected
to one another, in an interlocking manner at least in regions,
along the circumference of the insert element.
Inventors: |
KOVERMANN; MARC; (Hagen a.
T.W., DE) ; RUMBACH; ALBERT; (Aachen, DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
KME GERMANY GMBH & CO. KG |
49074 Osnabruck |
|
DE |
|
|
Assignee: |
KME Germany GmbH & Co.
KG
49074 Osnabruck
DE
|
Family ID: |
51298492 |
Appl. No.: |
14/392222 |
Filed: |
June 2, 2014 |
PCT Filed: |
June 2, 2014 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/DE2014/000270 |
371 Date: |
December 24, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01M 2220/20 20130101;
H01M 2/206 20130101; Y02E 60/10 20130101; H01M 2/202 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H01M 2/20 20060101
H01M002/20 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 24, 2013 |
DE |
10 2013 010 472.6 |
Claims
1.-11. (canceled)
12. A connecting piece made of a punching sheet for conductively
connecting poles of two batteries or battery cells, said connecting
piece comprising: at least one base body having at least one
recess; at least one insert element arranged in an inner region of
the at least one recess, wherein a groove is provided on one of the
insert element and the base body, said groove provided on the
insert element extending along at least a portion of a
circumference of the insert element, said groove provided on the
base body extending along at least a portion of a circumference of
an inside of the at least one recess, wherein the other one of the
insert element and the base body has a protrusion which is
generated by a pressing of one or both of the insert element and
the base body, said protrusion form fittingly engaging in the
groove of the one of the insert element and the base body so that
the base body and the insert element are form fittingly connected
with each other at least in regions along the circumference of the
insert element, and wherein the groove has a varying depth for
rotatively fixing the insert element.
13. The connecting piece of claim 12, wherein the insert element is
made of a different material than the base body.
14. The connecting piece of claim 13, wherein the material of the
insert element has a greater coefficient of expansion than the
material of the base body.
15. The connecting piece of claim 13, wherein the base body is made
of copper or a copper alloy, and the insert element is made of
aluminum or an aluminum alloy or of steel coated with aluminum or
aluminum alloy.
16. The connecting piece of claim 12, wherein the insert element is
ring-shaped.
17. The connecting piece of claim 12, wherein the base body and the
insert element have a same thickness and together form a flush
surface.
18. A method for producing a connecting piece, comprising:
providing a sheet metal blank and an insert element; punching a
recess into the sheet metal blank; inserting the insert element
into the recess; pressing the insert element and the sheet metal
blank together so that at least in regions a formfitting connection
is generated between an outer circumference of the insert element
and an inner circumference of the recess; punching out an outer
contour of a base body of the connecting piece from the sheet metal
blank; and separating the connecting piece from the sheet metal
blank.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing the insert
element with a groove along at least a portion of the outer
circumference of the insert element, wherein during the pressing
step material of the sheet metal blank flows into the groove,
thereby generating the formfitting connection.
20. The method according to claim 18, further comprising after the
punching of the recess, providing the recess with a groove along at
least a portion of the inner circumference of the recess, wherein
during the pressing step material of the insert element flows into
the groove, thereby generating the formfitting connection.
21. The method of claim 18, further comprising processing the
connecting piece by at least one of bending, punching, and cutting.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a connecting piece for conductively
connecting poles of two batteries or battery cells, which has a
base body with at least one recess, wherein at least one insert
element is arranged in the inner region of at least one recess. The
application further relates to a production method for such a
connecting piece
[0002] Electrically driven motor vehicles have batteries, which are
composed of individual battery cells. These are mostly lithium ion
batteries, wherein the individual cells are formed by an anode and
a cathode, which are respectively made of different materials. The
individual cells are connected to each other in a serial connection
in order to produce the required total voltage.
[0003] For this purpose the individual cells of a battery have to
be connected to each other by way of connecting pieces. Hereby the
respective anode of a cell and the cathode of the subsequent cell
are connected with each other.
[0004] Anodes are often produced on the basis of an aluminum alloy,
whereas cathodes are mostly based on a copper alloy.
[0005] The connecting pieces have to have a good electric
conductivity, which makes copper a preferred manufacturing
material. However, directly connecting a connecting piece made of
copper with a battery contact made of aluminum poses the risk that
in the presence of oxygen or humidity the contacting piece or the
contact surface between the contacting peace and the battery
contact corrodes and is thus destroyed.
[0006] This can be prevented by using identical materials at the
contact site between the battery pole and the connecting piece (for
example in each case aluminum). At the same time, however, the
connecting piece has to possess the very good conductivity of
copper.
[0007] Consequently, connecting pieces are known from the
state-of-the-art who's connecting points are configured in
correspondence with the material of the battery contact.
[0008] Thus for example from DE 10 2011 080 977 A1 a cell connector
for electrically connecting terminals of battery cells is known,
which is made of multiple material layers, wherein layers of a
first material and a second material are alternately arranged.
These materials can be copper and aluminum. The respective layers
have two holes, wherein the holes in the copper layers are greater
than the holes in the aluminum layers. These layers are arranged
above each other so that smaller hole is arranged coaxial to the
greater hole. As a result a connection site made of aluminum is
formed in the inner region of the greater holes, so that when
mounting the cell connector on the battery cells the aluminum poles
can be connected with a contact region made of aluminum. In a vice
versa arrangement also a connecting site for copper poles can be
produced.
[0009] A disadvantage of such connecting pieces is on one hand the
complex manufacturing, because a multitude of individual material
layers has to be arranged precisely on top of each other. At the
same time there is the risk of corrosion on between the individual
material layers, which according to DE 10 2011 080 977 A1 is to be
avoided by a plastic sealing. This sealing however represents an
additional process step, which makes the production of such
connecting pieces more complicated and more expensive.
[0010] A simplified manufacturing variant of a connecting piece for
connecting two polls of cells of batteries is disclosed in DE 10
2007 063 177 A1. Here the connecting piece is made of a base body,
which has two openings. In each of the two openings a sleeve-shaped
compensation element is introduced, wherein the compensation
element and the base body and the compensation element and the
battery pole are connected to each other by a material-to-material
connection.
[0011] Here, the production of the connection piece is strongly
simplified, however, the welding connection of the inner sleeve
made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy with a base body made of
copper or a cooper alloy is difficult to produce. Nevertheless it
is still required, however, to connect such a sleeve with the base
body so that the sleeve is securely held in the base body.
[0012] It is an object of the connection to provide a connecting
piece for conductively connecting battery poles of two batteries of
battery cells, in which contact corrosion between the connecting
piece and the assigned battery pole is prevented and which is easy
to manufacture and also enables a stable connection of the
batteries or battery cells.
[0013] It is another object of the invention to provide a
manufacturing process for such a connecting piece.
[0014] The object relating to the devices is solved by a connecting
piece according to the features of patent claim 1. Preferred
embodiments of the invention are the subject matter of the
dependent claims 2 to 7.
[0015] The object relating to the process is solved by a production
method according to patent claim 8. Particular embodiments of the
production method are the subject matter of the dependent claims 9
to 11.
[0016] A connecting piece according to the invention made of a
steel sheet for conductively connecting poles of two batteries or
battery cells has a base body with at least one recess, wherein at
least one insert element is arranged in the inner region of at
least one recess. Either the insert elements have an at least
partially circumferential groove on their circumferential side, or
the base body has an at least partially circumferential groove on
the inside of its at least one recess. The respective corresponding
component has a protrusion, which is produced by a material
displacement during pressing of both or one of the two components.
The protrusion form fittingly engages into the groove so that at
least regions of the base body and each insert element are
form-fittingly connected along the circumference of the insert
element.
[0017] The connecting piece serves for connecting poles of two
batteries or battery cells. Hereby the batteries can be
conventional batteries or battery cells or also rechargeable
batteries or battery cells, which are often also referred to as
accumulators. At the same time the batteries or battery cells can
also be other types of energy storage devices, which are for
example based on the principle of capacitors.
[0018] Generally the connecting pieces according to the invention
are used in a battery of an electric-motor driven vehicle. This can
be a purely electric motor vehicle as well as a full hybrid or
plug-in hybrid vehicle. The individual battery cells of the entire
battery are connected to each other in the form of a serial
connection. This means that always the cathode of a battery cell is
connected with the anode of a neighboring cell via the connecting
piece.
[0019] The collecting piece according to the invention is
preferably configured so that the contact region, in which the
connecting piece is connected with the respective battery pole, is
made of the material or material connection of which also the
corresponding battery contact is made.
[0020] The connecting piece has a base body, which is provided with
at least one recess. This at least one recess can for example be
configured round, elliptical or as even or uneven polygon.
Preferably the base body has two recesses, of which a respective
one is connected with a battery pole of neighboring battery cells.
However, it is also possible that only one recess is present, for
example in the form of an oblong hole, which is then connected with
both battery poles.
[0021] The recess does not necessarily have to be located
exclusively in the inner region of the base body in the form of a
hole. It can also be arranged in the border region of the base body
in the form of an indentation, so that the shape of the recess is
for example a semicircle, a semi ellipse, or a partial region of an
even or even polygon.
[0022] In the inner region of at least one recess and insert
element is arranged. This insert element forms a contact region
between the connecting piece and the associated battery pole. The
insert element can also be in contact over its full circumference
with the base body. When the recess is round, elliptical or
polygonal, the insert element has a correspondingly round,
elliptical or polygonal outer circumference. Otherwise, for example
when the recess has an oblong hole, the insert element may also be
in contact with the base body with only a portion of its outer
circumference. In the case of a recess in the shape of an oblong
hole the insert element is only arranged at one end of the oblong
hole. In this case, the insert element only contacts the base body
at the end of the oblong hole, whereas the region of its
circumference, which faces the center of the oblong hole, remains
free.
[0023] In order to prevent that the insert element is
unintentionally falling out of the recess, either the insert
element has at least in regions on its circumference a
circumferential groove. As an alternative also the base body can
have a corresponding proof on the inside of its at least one
recess. The respective corresponding component has a protrusion,
which formfitting the pages in the groove. As a result an
indentation is formed, which prevents that the insert element
inadvertently falls out of the recess.
[0024] Depending on the configuration of the base body and its
recesses, the form fit can be formed along the entire circumference
of the insert element or also only in regions.
[0025] In this way a stable connection between the base body and
the insert element is produced, whereby the connection between the
individual batteries or battery cells is improved. After insertion
of the insert element into the recess, the components are pressed
together, preferably by exerting a pressure from above onto the
common surface of the components. Hereby the pressure can either be
exerted onto both components at the same time or onto the surface
of only one component. As a result of the pressing, material of a
body is displaced into the groove of the other body. This creates
the protrusion which form fittingly engages into the groove.
[0026] The groove can for example have a semicircular,
semi-elliptical, triangular or other polygonal cross-section so
that a good material flow into the interior of the group is
ensured.
[0027] The subsequent forming of the protrusion makes it possible
to insert the insert elements into the recesses without problems.
The production of the form fitting connection by the pressing can
in addition be integrated into the production process without
problems.
[0028] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the insert
element is made of a different material than the base body.
[0029] Here in particular the adjustability of the connecting piece
to the anodes and cathodes of the battery cells, which are made
respectively of different materials, plays a role. Preferably the
contact sites of the connecting piece are made of the same or a
similar material alloy as the battery contacts. This prevents
contact corrosion between the connecting piece and the battery
contact, and depending on the circumstances also enables a simpler
connecting between the connecting piece and the battery
contact.
[0030] The connecting piece and the battery contact can be
connected with each other in a very simple manner by a screw
connection. Hereby the connecting piece and the battery contact are
simply pressed onto each other. However, it is also possible to
create a welding connection, which can be realized even easier,
when the components to be welded to each other a made of similar
materials.
[0031] The connection of the base body and the insert element by
form fit is also completely independent of the used materials.
There are no difficulties regarding welding or similar
material-to-material connections.
[0032] Pressing the two components with each other also generates a
completely gas-tight form fit. Thus neither atmospheric oxygen nor
humidity can reach the contact surface between the two components
so that a corrosive destruction of the connection is prevented from
the beginning.
[0033] In a further particular embodiment of the invention, the
material of which the insert element is made has a greater
coefficient of expansion than the material of which the base body
is made.
[0034] This configuration has physical reasons. Battery cells in
motor vehicles are subjected to fast charging and discharging
cycles. Associated with this are always temperature changes of the
battery cells and the connecting pieces, which leads to thermally
related volume changes of the individual battery components and
also of the components of the connecting piece. In order to prevent
that due an uneven linear expansion of the individual materials the
insert element slips out of the recess, the material of the insert
element has preferably a greater coefficient of expansion than the
material of the base body. This ensures that the insert element is
securely held in the base body at all times.
[0035] In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the base body of
the connecting piece is made of copper or a copper alloy, and the
insert element is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy or of
steel, which is coated with aluminum or aluminum alloy.
[0036] This embodiment of the invention accounts for the
circumstance that the battery poles are mostly made of copper or a
copper alloy in case of the cathodes, whereas the anodes are mostly
made of aluminum or aluminum alloy. The connecting pieces can thus
be produced so as to be adjusted to the material composition of the
battery contacts. As described above, this removes the risk of
contact corrosion between the connecting piece and the battery
contact and the connection capacity between the connecting piece
and the battery contact is optimized.
[0037] In a further particular embodiment of the invention it is
provided that the insert element is configured ring-shaped.
[0038] The outer circumference of the insert element is adjusted to
the configuration of the recess in the base body. This means that
the ring-shaped insert element can for example have a round,
elliptical or polygonal outer circumference. The insert element is
provided in its center with a hole, through which a screw or a
threaded bolt can engage in order to create a connection to the
battery contact. The size and shape of the hole is therefore
adjusted to the screws or threaded bolts.
[0039] In particular insert elements that do not have a circular
outer circumference, i.e., elliptical or polygonal insert elements,
have the advantage that the insert element is held rotationally
fixed in the correspondingly configured recess. Because the
connecting pieces preferably is fastened with a screw or a threaded
bolt on the battery contact, the insert element should not should
not become loose when fastening the screw or a nut but should be
securely seated in the recess so as to be protected against
rotation.
[0040] Preferably the smallest extent of the insert element is
greater than the greatest extent of the screw head or the nut so
that a full surface contact of screw head and nut with the insert
element is ensured.
[0041] In order to configure a circular insert element also
rotation-resistant, the groove of the insert element of the base
body is configured in a further embodiment of the invention so that
its depth varies in different regions. During pressing of a
connecting piece this accomplishes also a rotation-resistant
formfitting connection. Also in the case of other circumferential
geometries of the insert element the varying depth of the grooves
leads to an additional protection against rotation.
[0042] In a further particular embodiment of the invention, the
base body and the insert element have the same thickness and thus
form a flush surface.
[0043] Preferably the base body and the insert elements have a
thickness of 0.8 to 1.0 mm. Depending on the application, the
components can also have a greater or smaller thickness, for
example when greater or lower stiffnesses are required or when, due
to use of particular material types, a greater or smaller thickness
is required.
[0044] A flush surface has the advantage that during mounting of
the connecting piece no thickness steps have to be taken into
account. A corresponding configuration of the battery contacts is
thus not required. In addition the insertion of the insert elements
into the recesses of the base bodies is simplified because a
corresponding positioning of the insert elements does not have to
be taken into account.
[0045] Also the production of the connecting piece and the pressing
of the components can be performed in a simpler tool, when the base
body and insert element have a flush surface, because in this case
a thickness does not have to be taken into account in the pressing
tool.
[0046] In addition a flush surface is less prone to attachment of
contaminants and humidity in the edges and to notch effects, which
over time may compromise the stability of the connecting piece.
[0047] The production method for a connecting piece made of a sheet
metal for conductively connecting of poles of two batteries or
battery cells is characterized by the following method steps:
[0048] providing a sheet metal blank and at least one insert
element; [0049] punching at least one recess into the sheet metal
blank; [0050] inserting at least one insert element into at least
one recess; [0051] pressing the insert elements and the sheet metal
blank so that between the outer circumference of the insert element
and the inner circumference of the recess a form fitting connection
is formed at least in regions; [0052] punching the outer contour of
the base body of the connecting piece from the sheet metal blank;
[0053] separating the connecting piece from the sheet metal
blank.
[0054] The order of these method steps is not fixed by the listed
sequence. The order of the individual punching steps can also be
performed in the reverse order so that first the base body is
punched out of a sheet metal blank and subsequently the recesses
are punched into the base body.
[0055] In a particular embodiment of the invention, the at least
one insert element is provided at least in regions with a groove
along its outer circumference. During pressing, the material of the
sheet metal blank flows into the groove for creating the
formfitting connection.
[0056] The pressing is preferably performed so that pressure is
exerted to the lower and/or the upper surface of either the sheet
metal blank or the sheet metal blank and the insert element. As a
result of this pressure the material of the sheet metal blank is
displaced and flows into the proof of the insert element.
[0057] As a result the protrusion is created on the inside of the
previously punched out recess, which protrusion engaged into the
groove. As a result again a indentation is created which prevents
that the insert element can slide out of the recess.
[0058] Instead of the pressing also stamping or any other method
can be used by which the material flow can be realized.
[0059] It is also possible that pressing pressure is not exerted
onto the top surfaces of the component but to the smaller side
surfaces.
[0060] Analogously a further embodiment of the invention provides
that after the punching of the at least one recess, at least one
recess is provided along its inner circumference at least in
regions with a groove and during the pressing the material of the
insert element flows into the groove for creating a formfitting
connection.
[0061] In this case, for creating a formfitting connection the same
principle as described above is used with the difference that the
groove and protrusion re formed on the respective other component.
The pressing process is correspondingly adjusted. The method
variants and advantages of the connection remained the same.
[0062] In a further embodiment of the invention, the connecting
piece is further processed by methods such as bending, punching,
cutting and the like.
[0063] By further processing steps the connecting piece can be
tailored to the respective configuration of the battery contacts.
For example a defined shape can be bent, and further connecting
points can be attached or excess material can be removed.
[0064] The frequent charging and discharging processes so the
battery or the battery cells leads to the fact that the batteries
or battery cells, due to being heated during these processes, are
subject to length and volume changes. This means their volume
changes in dependence on the charge state and/or temperature. It is
therefore advantageous when the connecting pieces are configured so
that they are able to compensate these volume changes. This can for
example be accomplished by introducing slots into the connecting
piece or in that the connecting pieces are bent into a shape in
which they are able to compensate these length fluctuations. For
this purpose they are bent in one or multiple working steps,
punched, cut or the like.
[0065] Particularly advantageous in the production method can be
performed in a very simple manner in a composite follow-on tool. A
very simple geometry of the base body can be brought into an
individual shape by subsequent method steps such as bending,
punching, cutting and the like.
[0066] In addition, inter alia due to the geometry of the
connecting elements, no complex tools are required so that these
can also be provided cost-effectively.
[0067] In the following the invention is described in further
detail by way of schematic drawings. Hereby all described and/or
illustrated features individually or in meaningful combinations
formed the subject matter of the present invention also independent
of their combination in the claims or their dependencies.
[0068] It is shown in:
[0069] FIG. 1a a possible embodiment of the base body;
[0070] FIG. 1b a further possible embodiment of the base body;
[0071] FIG. 2a a possible embodiment of a groove in the base
body;
[0072] FIG. 2b a possible embodiment of the groove in the insert
element;
[0073] FIG. 3 the formfitting connection of and insert element
and
[0074] FIG. 4 the sequence of the steps in the production
method.
[0075] In the drawings, identical items are provided with the same
reference numerals. FIGS. 1a and 1b respectively show a base body 1
of a connecting piece in a possible embodiment. In FIG. 1a the base
body 1 has two recesses 2, which are respectively configured as an
octagon.
[0076] The circumference of an associated insert element would in
this case also be configured in the form of an octagon, wherein
already as a result of the shape of the recesses and the insert
elements a rotation protection for the insert element is
ensured.
[0077] FIG. 1b shows a base body 1 with two elliptical recesses
3.
[0078] The associated insert element in this case also has an
elliptical outer contour. An ellipsis is characterized by its main
axis 4 and its minor axis 5. These two axes have different lengths,
so that this geometric shape again impedes rotation of the insert
element.
[0079] FIG. 2a shows the cross-section through a base body 1 in the
region of a recess. Inserted into the recess is insert element 6,
wherein the two components base body 1 and insert element 6 are not
yet pressed with each other. The inner circumference 7 of the
recess of the base body 1 is provided with a circumferential groove
8, which has a triangular cross-section.
[0080] In the un-pressed state, the insert element 6 has a greater
thickness than the base body 1. Because preferably after the
pressing the insert element 6 and the base body 1 have the same
thickness, the material, which is to flow into the groove 8 during
the pressing, has to be reserved in the thickness of the insert
element 6.
[0081] The opposite configuration of the invention is shown in FIG.
2b. Here the insert element 6 is also inserted into a recess of the
base element 1, wherein however a groove 9, which has a
semicircular cross-section, is formed on the outer a circumference
of the insert element 6.
[0082] Here the pressure onto the base element 1 causes material of
the base element 1 to be displaced into the region of the groove 9,
and thus forms an indentation, which securely holds the insert
element 6 in the recess.
[0083] In this embodiment of the invention, the base element 1 has
initially a greater thickness than the insert element, so that for
accomplishing an identical thickness of the two components after
the pressing, the material of the base body 1 required for the
material flow, has to be reserved in its thickness.
[0084] FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the connecting piece of FIG.
2a after the pressing process. Here it can be seen that the
material of the insert element 6 has flown into the groove 8 of the
base body 1, whereby a protrusion 10 is formed, which formfittingly
engages into the groove 8.
[0085] The base body 1 and the insert element 6 are thus
form-fittingly connected with each other so that the insert element
6 is securely held in the recess of the base body 1.
[0086] Due to the material flow, the thickness of the insert
element has been reduced, so that the base body 1 and the insert
element 6 have the same thickness and together form a flush
surface.
[0087] The production of the connecting piece according to the
invention can advantageously be performed in a composite follow-on
tool. The individual process steps are illustrated in FIG. 4.
[0088] Beside the method exemplary shown in FIG. 4, of course
multiple combinations of the individual method steps are possible.
The here shown embodiment is therefore representative for all other
embodiments and combinations.
[0089] FIG. 4 shows a sheet metal blank 11, which is processed into
a connecting piece according to the invention, in multiple
subsequent processing steps I to IV. In this exemplary embodiment
the sheet metal blank has a width, which approximately corresponds
to the length of the later base body of the connecting piece.
[0090] The sheet metal blank can be uncoiled as endless sheet from
a coil. However it can also be inserted into a composite follow-on
tool in the form of cut to size sheet metal strips.
[0091] In step I, two recesses 12 are punched out of the sheet
metal blank. The respective regions of the sheet metal blank, which
are respectively punched out in a method step, are indicated
hatched in FIG. 4.
[0092] In this exemplary embodiment the recesses 12 are configured
circular. Next, in step II, insert elements 13 are inserted into
both recesses. These insert elements have the shape of circular
rings and are provided with a circumferential groove at their outer
circumference. The hole 14 in the center serves for passing through
screws or threaded bolts, in order to be able to establish a screw
connection with the respective battery contacts. Also in step II
the insert elements 13 and the sheet metal blank 11 are pressed
with each other so that the material of the sheet metal blank 11 is
displaced into the grroves of the insert elements 13 and thus a
form fitting connection between the sheet metal blank 11 and the
insert elements 13 is created. In step III the sheet metal blank 11
is cut (cutting region 15) so that the base body of the connecting
piece obtains its outer geometry.
[0093] At the same time, in this exemplary embodiment also slots 16
are introduced, which serve for providing greater flexibility to
the connecting piece.
[0094] In the last work step IV, the finished connecting piece 17
is separated from the sheet metal blank 11.
[0095] Optionally the connecting piece 17 can now be subjected to
further processing steps such as bending, punching or cutting and
the like if required for the construction.
REFERENCE SIGNS
[0096] 1--base body [0097] 2--recess [0098] 3--recess [0099]
4--main axis [0100] 5--minor axis [0101] 6--insert element [0102]
7--circumference [0103] 8--groove [0104] 9--groove [0105]
10--protrusion [0106] 11--sheet metal blank [0107] 12--recess
[0108] 13--insert element [0109] 14--hole [0110] 15--cutting region
[0111] 16--slot [0112] 17--connecting piece
* * * * *